This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS ADANA 000015 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PGOV PHUM TU ADANA
SUBJECT: SOUTHEAST TURKEY PRESS SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 23, 2006 
 
This is the Southeastern Turkey press summary for January 23, 
¶2006.  Please note that Turkish press reports often contain 
errors or exaggerations; AmConsulate Adana does not vouch for 
the accuracy of the reports summarized here. 
 
POLITICAL, SECURITY, HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
SABAH / OZGUR GUNDEM:   A 12-person U.S. delegation came to Van 
to study the bird flu cases at local level.  Van Governor 
briefed the delegation which will later reportedly pay a visit 
to Van Centennial University to see the patients suspected of 
having bird flu.  U.S. Department of State Deputy Undersecretary 
Ann Derse said that the measures undertaken against bird-flu 
were pleasing. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   DTP (Democratic Society Party) administrators 
in Agri's Patnos district, who were detained because of a 
January 18 press announcement made to protest confinement of 
Abdullah Ocalan to a prison cell, have been released. 
 
EVRENSEL / OZGUR GUNDEM:        Five years have reportedly passed 
since Serdar Tanis, HADEP's former Silopi provincial 
chairperson, and Ebubekir Deniz, HADEP's provincial leader, 
disappeared allegedly after being summoned to Silopi Jandarma 
Command in January 2001.  It is anticipated that the lawsuit 
brought at the European Court of Human Rights concerning the 
disappearance will reach a verdict at the end of February. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   A delegation formed by the Human Rights 
Association (HRA) and Mazlum-Der (Association for Solidarity for 
Human Rights and Oppressed People) went to Cizre.  The 
delegation made a call on the PKK/Kongra-Gel to announce via a 
media channel the spot at which the PKK would be releasing the 
police officer Hakan Acil, who they kidnapped October 9, 2005 in 
Cizre. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   People in Semdinli have closed their 
businesses temporarily as protest against the confinement of 
Abdullah Ocalan to a prison cell for 20 days and against the 
release of Sergeant Tanju Cavus, an officer held as the 
defendant of the killing of Ali Yilmaz during a demonstration 
that followed Semdinli incident which took place in November 9, 
¶2005. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   An entertainment program on a national TV 
station, which enjoyed high ratings in Turkey, has been 
discontinued allegedly because the entertainer of the program, 
who is a well-known celebrity, reportedly said that she was of 
Kurdish-origin. She was neither ashamed of her origin nor 
boastful of it, and she said that everybody were brothers (in 
Turkey).  Kurdish Artists Initiative condemned the TV station 
for its decision to end the program following these statements 
of the celebrity on a live TV program. 
 
HURRIYET / OZGUR GUNDEM:        Many roads have been closed and 
access has been blocked to many villages due to the heavy 
snowfall in the southeastern region.  500 people, who were stuck 
on a road in the Haruna Crossing between Yuksekova and Semdinli 
districts because of the snow, risked death while they waited 
for five hours for the rescue team to reach them. 
 
OZGUR GUNDEM:   A 4.0-magnitude earthquake shook Mersin 
yesterday at 4.26 p.m. 
 
EVRENSEL:       In the course of the Semdinli investigation Van 
Prosecutors decided to seize computers at the Semdinli Security 
Directorate.  A search of the hard disks was reportedly started 
a while ago upon allegations by the head of the Anti-terror 
Branch of National Security Directorate that Veysel Ates's 
statement given while he was in detention, was lost.  (Note: 
Veysel Ates is the PKK defector who had been in Semdinli along 
with the two officers during the Semdinli incident of November 
9, 2005. End Note.) 
 
BOLGE:  Members of the TKP (Turkish Communist Party) marched 
towards the TEKEL Cigarette factory in Adana to protest the 
government's decision to close down the factory. 
 
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
 
HURRIYET (CUKUROVA):    Saban Bas, Chairperson of the Adana 
Chamber of Commerce, suggested that Adana's Tekel Cigarette 
Factory, which will be closed down by the Privatization 
Authority, be bought by Adana businessmen in order to revive it. 
 
REID